Thursday, June 1 – Dork Tower was nominated for two prestigious Harvey Awards: Best Cartoonist (John Kovalic) and Special Award For Humor in Comics (John Kovalic).

That out of the way?

Good.

Now…here’s my honest reaction:

HOLY freaking CRUD! This is…odd. Stunning. Weird. I didn’t even know the Harveys were announced today, until some readers e-mailed me congratulations…

I’ve always felt a bit…distanced, shall we say…from the world of comics and comic books. A bit of an outsider. I’ve got a few great friends in the industry, but in general I’ve always been comfortable in my roll as someone I doubted most pros in the field know about or care about.

I can’t remember the last time I sent in anything of mine to the Eisner Awards (my bad – I’m not good with remembering deadlines), and though I’ve dearly wanted to, I’ve never made it to the likes of SPX or MOCCA.

Good grief, I think it’s been three years since I’ve been to San Diego Comicon.

My loss, I know. But my stage fright at cons is about as legendary as an underground, cult sort like myself can hope for. Which is a shame, since there are so many in the comic book world that I admire, and would love to meet.

On the other hand, staying home means I’ve been getting far more work done than I would, prepping for and fighting the fear of cons.

Anyway, it came as a total shock – a bolt from the blue – this sunny, quiet morning to find out that I’d been nominated for TWO Harvey awards. I’ve no idea who nominated me, but…wow. I’m amazed, and very, very humbled.

(The bolding of my own name is merely because I still can’t quite believe this. Sort of like pinching myself, to make sure itr’s not a dream…)

Fortunately, I’m a realist: being up against Frank Cho (among others just as amazingly talented) for Best Cartoonist, and being up against the stunningly brilliant Kyle Baker for the Special Award for Humor in Comics means I’m not gonna waste any time working on acceptance speeches. And hey, look: Chris Ware’s there, too! And hey, so’s Chris Eliopoulos! And…

But this is such an honor to be named alongside those sorts of guys.

Double-plus good: my pals Alex Robinson’s up for Best Writer, and Keith Knight is up for Best Syndicated Comic. And PvP’s got a superbly deserved nod for Best Online Comic. Good stuff, all around.

Again, I’ve absolutely no delusions about winning either of my categories. But this news makes me so incredibly happy and humbled, you’ve no idea. Mentioned in the same category as Kyle Baker and Chris Ware? Yeah…I think my day’s been make. Grin. (And I’m a James Kolchalka goob, too!)

If you’d like to vote for your favorite comics folks in the Harveys, and are a comic book professional, you can download the forms HERE.

Here’s the full list:

2006 Harvey Award Nominees

Nominations for the Harvey Awards are selected exclusively by comics creators – those who write, draw, ink, letter, color, design, edit or are otherwise involved in a creative capacity in the comics field. They are the only industry awards both nominated by and selected by the full body of comic book professionals.